Razzle Dazzle: Fame Through Movies, Chapter 5: The Maverick

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I Close My Eyes, Then Drift Away: Inception

(WARNING: There will be SPOILERS!!!)

Christopher Nolan's "Inception" is currently the internet film community's Rage du Jour. Continuing a battle over the merits of Nolan as a filmmaker that began two years ago with "The Dark Knight", this was also one of the few films being released in yet another barren summer movie season that was worth seeing and talking about. Anyone who knows me is probably aware now that I consider The Battle Over Nolan a low point in film discourse on the web, where both sides of the "debate" have descended into hyperbolic nonsense as if there was a victory to be won on the matter. His films are often wildly misrepresented to simply fulfill a narrative each side wants to create about his abilities as well as those who disagree with their opinions. Either Nolan is the filmmaking genius who is the heir apparent to Stanley Kubrick or he is a complete hack responsible for the downfall of motion pictures.

It is tough for me to write about "Inception", not just due to entering a two week old debate that I consider mostly rancid, but, more importantly, I am absolutely perplexed that this film has actually deserved this fervor. "Inception" inspired so little passion in me (It's the "Avatar" of the moment), which makes me wonder what its most ardent supporters and angriest detractors are getting out of building it up or tearing it down. This movie is the very definition of middling.

Razzle Dazzle: Fame Through Movies, Chapter 4: The Parasite

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Razzle Dazzle: Fame Through Movies, Chapter 3: The Fraud

You can also view this on the Moving Image site here.